Can you actually influence the brain of your buyer to help you win more business? The answer is yes, according to consultant Stephanie Chung, who led an Education Day session at ASI Orlando titled “The Science of Success: Selling to the 21st Century Buyer.” Chung is an expert on neuroscience selling, which is powered by what she calls conversational intelligence.

“You’re trying to create trust, empathy and goodwill,” said Chung. “When you use conversational intelligence, you’re looking to prime the brain of the prospect or client to buy.” 

So how do you successfully “prime” the brains of buyers? Chung believes the key is in getting a buyer’s brain to release “feel-good” chemicals like dopamine and oxytocin. “You can increase dopamine by simply asking buyers questions about themselves,” Chung says. “Something else that’s easy to do is to just smile at buyers. When someone smiles at you, it’s hard not to smile back and dopamine goes up. Two ways to rev up oxytocin: listen and touch. Listening to buyers makes them feel valued and a firm handshake or a pat on the back can make a huge difference.” 

Chung told attendees that when you boost these chemicals, you’re able to make emotional connections with buyers, which research shows can increase your sales by 85%. Those customers are also three times more likely to refer you to others.

Chung maintains that people’s buying decisions aren’t driven by logic, but by emotion. She used an example to make her point. “Let’s say someone is getting divorced and they need a family law attorney,” said Chung. She then showed a slide of an attorney’s business card, which offered a free phone consultation. “Logically, free is good, so I might be inclined to call this lawyer,” Chung said. But next, Chung showed an ad for another attorney, which had an image of a fancy sports car. The license plate read: WAS HIS. Chung asked her audience: “Now ladies, which one of these lawyers are you going to pick?”

Chung’s point – that people don’t buy rationally – is especially pertinent, considering the super-short attention spans of today’s customers. “Your client’s brain performs an estimated 38 thousand trillion operations per second while you’re selling,” said Chung. “People have 70,000 thoughts in one day. Don’t you want to be among the first of those thoughts? This is why neuroscience matters.”